The New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013 (“NYSAFE Act”), banned the sale of assault rifles in New York State, inter alia, and similar laws have been introduced nationwide. The NYSAFE Act defines the term “assault rifle” to include semiautomatic rifles that have the ability to accept a detachable magazine, and have at least one of the following military characteristics: a) folding or telescoping stock; b) protruding pistol grip; c) thumbhole stock; d) second handgrip or protruding grip that can be held by a non-shooting hand; e) bayonet mount; f) flash suppressor; g) muzzle brake; h) muzzle compensator; i) a threaded barrel designed to accommodate the above; and/or j) grenade launcher. However, semiautomatic rifles having a fixed magazine are not specifically included in the NYSAFE Act. New York Solicitor General Barbara Underwood has indicated that a primary goal of the NYSAFE Act is to address the number of rounds that can be fired without a pause to reload, which can limit the ability of individuals to perpetrate mass shootings. Indeed, the New York Solicitor General has indicated that, if a magazine is fixed to the semiautomatic rifle, the semiautomatic rifle can have all the features that the user desires. Thus, the sale and use of semiautomatic rifles having a fixed magazine appears to remain legal in New York State and beyond.
The act of fixing a magazine to a rifle can be accomplished via a number of known and commercially available methods, or by any means which would fix the magazine to comply with local and state laws. Such an act results in the user having to load the magazine while it is attached to the rifle, rather than replacing the empty magazine with a separate, fully loaded magazine. The act of reloading a magazine while the magazine is attached to the rifle is significantly slower than replacing the empty magazine with a separate, fully loaded magazine because each cartridge must be introduced into the magazine individually by hand. In contrast, loading a magazine that is detached from a rifle can be accomplished with a commercially available magazine loader, such as the loader discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,371. The slow, manual reloading of the magazine accomplishes the goal of making semiautomatic rifles more difficult to reload, which can assist in preventing mass shootings. However, the slow, manual reloading of the magazine also affects the ability of law-abiding gun owners to use rifles with relative ease.
Fixing a magazine to a rifle causes a number of problems. For instance, to load a magazine that is fixed to an AR-10® and/or AR-15® style rifle, a pin is pulled that allows the upper receiver of the rifle body to pivot and expose the top of the empty, fixed magazine. In such an instance, the empty, fixed magazine protrudes from the lower receiver of the rifle body by approximately ½ an inch. Commercially available magazine loaders are not designed to accommodate such a fixed magazine because commercially available magazine loaders are typically built so that the magazine slides approximately 1 inch into the loader. Thus, commercially available magazine loaders do not sit properly on a rifle with a fixed magazine, which makes the use of commercially available magazine loaders difficult with rifles having fixed magazines.
Also, commercially available magazine loaders do not leave space for the internal mechanisms of the rifle that abut the exposed, fixed magazine. For instance, the bolt catch/release mechanism interferes with the ability of commercially available magazine loaders to be used with magazines fixed to rifles. Therefore, commercially available magazine loaders do not sit properly on a rifle with a fixed magazine because these mechanisms do not allow the magazine loader to sit directly upon the lower receiver of the rifle body.
A number of commercially available magazine loaders are known.
U.K. Patent Application No. GB 2487801 discloses devices used to load multiple rounds of ammunition into a magazine in one operation. The magazine loading device of GB 2487801 generally provides for loading thirty rounds of ammunition into a magazine, wherein the device comprises a body portion having a first cavity capable of receiving thirty rounds of ammunition arranged side by side, and a base portion having a second cavity arranged to receive a magazine to be loaded, the first cavity having a first opening for entry of ammunition into the first cavity and a second opening for exit of ammunition from the first cavity to the second cavity. Also, GB 2487801 provides a plurality of indentations adapted to aid gripping of the device by a user's hand. GB 2487801, however, is clearly directed to a magazine loading device for loading a plurality of rounds of ammunition into a magazine that is removed from the rifle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 447,577 discloses a cartridge feed case of magazine guns. The cartridge holders or cases of U.S. Pat. No. 447,577 are adapted to contain a number of cartridges for use with that class of magazine guns in which the cartridges are supplied to the magazine from the top or from the bottom or from one or the other side, and more especially to that class of magazine-guns in which the magazine depends from the receiver, and in which the cartridges are introduced into said magazine through the receiver. U.S. Pat. No. 447,577, however, does not contain a portion that allows the magazine loader to sit directly upon the lower receiver of the rifle body, or to slide over the portion of the fixed magazine that protrudes from the lower receiver of the rifle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 578,931 discloses a temporary cartridge-holder having a transversely-arranged finger-passage extending nearly to its open inner edge or bottom to permit the expulsion of the last cartridge by the fingers alone, the holder being made elastic for the normal retention of the cartridges. However, U.S. Pat. No. 578,931 does not contain a portion that allows the magazine loader to sit directly upon the lower receiver of the rifle body, or to slide over the portion of the fixed magazine that protrudes from the lower receiver of the rifle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 600,367 discloses sheet-metal cartridge-packets having a single side wall, a bullet-hold, and a head-hold, the rear portion of the side wall being formed with a wide vertically-arranged expulsion-passage entering the rear portion from its upper edge and with an extractor-opening entering the rear portion from its lower edge and located below the lower end of the expulsion passage, from which it is separated by a rearwardly-extending horizontal tie, which constitutes the sole support of the head-hold. However, U.S. Pat. No. 600,367 does not contain a portion that allows the magazine loader to sit directly upon the lower receiver of the rifle body, or to slide over the portion of the fixed magazine that protrudes from the lower receiver of the rifle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,783,570 discloses magazine chargers for loading a plurality of cartridges into a magazine while being assembled to a firearm. As seen in FIG. 4 of U.S. Pat. No. 2,783,570, the disclosed magazine chargers do not contain a portion that allows the magazine charger to sit directly upon the lower receiver of the rifle body, or slide over the portion of the fixed magazine that protrudes from the lower receiver of the rifle body. Instead, the disclosed magazine chargers utilize integral, restraining tabs 31 which extend inwardly and downwardly to press resiliently against the bottom one of the cartridges 14 in the magazine charger 17 and thereby releasably restrain the cartridges in such magazine charger.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,856,720 discloses a charger for easily loading a magazine while being assembled to a firearm whereby the magazine need not be removed for loading or replaced when the supply of cartridges therein is depleted. The figures of U.S. Pat. No. 2,856,720 show a firearm having a receiver 12 with a bolt 13 slidingly mounted therein and a cartridge magazine 14 separably mounted thereto, wherein the magazine 14 is of a conventional two-column type and is loaded by the insertion of a plurality of cartridges 16 into the top end thereof against a spring-loaded follower 18. The disclosed magazine chargers, however, do not contain a portion that allows the magazine charger to sit directly upon the lower receiver of the rifle body, or slide over the portion of the fixed magazine that protrudes from the lower receiver of the rifle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,887,811 improves the loading of box magazines from U.S. Pat. No. 2,783,570 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,856,720. U.S. Pat. No. 2,887,811 provides a pull-type clip, loaded with one or more columns of cartridges, that is inserted into the open end of the magazine until the topmost cartridge or cartridges, depending on the number of cartridge columns in the pull-type clip, is or are held within the magazine by resilient retaining means. The pull-type clip is then simply pulled from the magazine, stripping the cartridges from the clip and leaving them in the magazine due to the fact that the cartridges are held by the retaining means. The pull-type clip of U.S. Pat. No. 2,887,811 does not have the ability to allow the pull-type clip to sit directly upon the lower receiver of the rifle body, or slide over the portion of the fixed magazine that protrudes from the lower receiver of the rifle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,371 discloses a magazine loader for rapidly and easily loading cartridges into a firearm magazine, wherein the magazine loader comprises a skirt and a cartridge neck holder and a cartridge base holder attached to the skirt. The skirt has an open top through which cartridges pass. It also has an open bottom adapted to receive the magazine to be loaded. The cartridge neck holder is attached to the top of the skirt at its front end. The cartridge neck holder comprises an upwardly extending front support having two laterally extending neck arms attached to the front support at their forward ends. The laterally extending neck arms are adapted to slidably hold the neck of a cartridge. The cartridge base holder which is attached to the top of the skirt at its back end comprises an upwardly extending rear support and two laterally extending base arms. The base arms are attached to the rear support at their rearward ends. The laterally extending base arms are adapted to slidably hold the base of the cartridge. The base holder is adapted to receive cartridges held by a retainer strip, portions of which extend into the extractor recess of the cartridges. The magazine loader of U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,371, however, does not have the ability to slide over the portion of the fixed magazine that protrudes from the lower receiver of the rifle body and sit directly upon the lower receiver of the rifle body because the open bottom adapted will interfere with the raised portions of the lower receiver of the rifle body. Such interference results in the magazine loader sitting in such a position that the magazine holder cannot easily slide onto the exposed portion of the magazine that is fixed to the bottom portion of the rifle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,243 discloses a device for loading cartridges into a magazine including a body with a U-shaped cross section adapted to slide up and down upon the exterior of a magazine. The device for loading cartridges of U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,243 provides “hands-free” cartridge loading after a cartridge is positioned within a magazine's mouth rather than allowing the loader to slide onto the exposed portion of the magazine that is fixed on the bottom portion of the rifle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,754,987 discloses a magazine loader that includes a loading holder and an ammunition pusher. The magazine loader is configured such that the discharging opening end of the loading holder is capable of being detachably mounted on an opening of a magazine. The magazine loader of U.S. Pat. No. 6,754,987, however, does not have the ability to slide over the portion of the fixed magazine that protrudes from the lower receiver of the rifle body and sit directly upon the lower receiver of the rifle body because the open bottom will interfere with the raised portions of the lower receiver of the rifle body. Such interference results in the magazine loader sitting in such a position that the magazine holder cannot easily slide onto the exposed portion of the magazine that is fixed to the bottom portion of the rifle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,273,917 discloses a magazine loader that includes a loader housing having a housing interior; a slot in the loader housing, the slot communicating with the housing interior; a clip slot in the loader housing opposite the slot, the clip slot communicating with the housing interior; and a loading plunger carried by the loader housing and extending into the housing interior, the loading plunger positional between an extended preloading position and a retracted loading position in the housing interior. The magazine loader of U.S. Pat. No. 9,273,917, however, does not have the ability to slide over the portion of the fixed magazine that protrudes from the lower receiver of the rifle body and sit directly upon the lower receiver of the rifle body because the open bottom will interfere with the raised portions of the lower receiver of the rifle body. Such interference results in the magazine loader sitting in such a position that the magazine loader cannot easily slide onto the exposed portion of the magazine that is fixed to the bottom portion of the rifle body.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,239,198 discloses a magazine loader that includes a base member configured for positioning on an open end of the magazine, a first cartridge support member extending from the base member, and a second cartridge support member extending from the base member. The first cartridge support member may include a first slot configured for receiving a base end of each of the cartridges. The second cartridge support member may include a second slot configured for receiving a tip end of each of the cartridges. The magazine loader of U.S. Pat. No. 9,239,198 does not have the ability to slide over the portion of the fixed magazine that protrudes from the lower receiver of the rifle body and sit directly upon the lower receiver of the rifle body because the open bottom adapted will interfere with the raised portions of the lower receiver of the rifle body. Such interference results in the magazine loader sitting in such a position that the magazine loader cannot easily slide onto the exposed portion of the magazine that is fixed to the bottom portion of the rifle body.
U.S. Patent App. No. 2013/0232843 discloses a loading device including a funneled port to facilitate the loading of cartridges into the loading device. Once a cartridge is introduced into the loading device, it is plunged into the magazine via a lever, handle, or knob incorporated on the loading device which is squeezed to activate the device, pushing the cartridge into the open end of the magazine. The loading device of U.S. Patent App. No. 2013/0232843 is clearly used on a magazine that is removed from a firearm, and thus does not address the problem solved by the instant application.
Commercially available magazine loaders, such as the THERMOLD® MC-SC-M-16/AR-15 Magazine Charger and the MAGLULA RANGE BENCHLOADER™ are similarly designed to load magazines that are detached from the rifle body. These commercially available magazine loaders do not have the ability to sit directly upon the lower receiver of a rifle body when the magazine is fixed thereto.
The above-mentioned commercially available magazine loaders and known magazine loaders do not achieve the goal of being able to load a magazine that is fixed to a semiautomatic rifle conveniently. The magazine loader of the instant application solves the problems of the known magazine loaders and allows for the convenient use with semiautomatic rifles having magazines fixed thereto in accordance with the requirements of the NYSAFE Act and similar laws.